Yeah, I did that the other day. I'm trying to impose some order/uniformity in the looks of the threads. I figure if I remove all "form", it will encourage more "function". So more ala linkedin. Less ala myspace. It's subtle, but I believe it works.

Another thing I wish I could do is the remove the "-quote-button since too many are abusing it as a reply-button

On behalf of any virgin internet forumites (including me), what's the problem with using the quote button? Is it a capacity issue if you use the quote button for entire blocks of text vs a line or two?

2) DON'T USE THE QUOTE FUNCTION AS A REPLY BUTTON! Some people use phones or textreaders to keep up, so please don't abuse the quote function. Don't quote the entire post you're responding to. Because if you do, people have to scroll through all that only to learn that you're just responding to the post above IF you're responding to the entire post (which is the case in most cases), just start your post with @theirusername. Then respond. Only use the quote function when/if responding to specific paragraphs or sentences and edit everything else out.

Which derives from Netiquette #4. It used to be an actual physical bandwidth problem, but today it's more of a mental bandwidth issue. It's annoying when reading a thread to have to scroll through a post from someone quoting an entire post just to read a few lines of response at the very bottom. There's no need to include a copy of the entire post one is responding to in one's own post when it can be found above.

I think of this [forum] like I think of managing a communal kitchen in a shared living space. If everybody always cleaned up after themselves, not leaving dirty dishes and wiping the counter tops, there would be no need for rules. However, anyone who has ever lived in such a living arrangement has likely experienced what happens once "that new guy" starts leaving a mess. If not, what typically happens is that several other people figure that 1) I'm not gonna clean up after him/others; and 2) If he can leave a mess or if the kitchen is already dirty, I can leave a mess too. As a result, the situation rapidly deteriorate and the kitchen (alternatively forum) becomes a constant mess that people eventually don't want to use. One rotten apple spoils the bunch. In a small group, usually one can call a meeting/intervention. In a large setting, it's easier to hire a kitchen-cleaner who comes in and "resets expectations" once a week---which is pretty much the job of the admin.